We wouldn’t go getting too excited about this week’s new releases. Far Cry 3 was the last major release of 2012, so it’s just dribs and drabs for now until things pick up again next year.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star is worth a look though. Reviews surfaced online quite a while ago to tie-in with the US release. Eurogamer gave it 7/10, claiming that the combat is simplistic and the puzzles are of the ‘trial and error’ variety. EDGE meanwhile thought it was worth an 8: “If there’s a complaint, it’s that it’s streamlined a little too well – it’s easy to scoff this box of treats in a single weekend,” they said.

How about a Pikachu 3DS XL to play it on? That’s out this week as well.

Another three Wii U games are hitting shelves too, all of which missed last week’s launch – 007: Legends, Rise of the Guardians and Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth. 007: Legends isn’t being released in Australia, oddly, but Australian gamers aren’t going to be missing out on much. Go for Call of Duty: Black Ops II instead if you’re after a Wii U shooter. Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth was designed with the Kinect in mind and as such we don’t see it transferring to the Wii U GamePad very well. Rise of the Guardians? It’s a movie tie-in and we all know how well they usually turn out. We can’t even find a single review of the Xbox 360 version.

Then on PlayStation 3 there’s Mass Effect Trilogy – which will be the first time PlayStation 3 owners get to experience the original Mass Effect – and the budget priced Metal Gear Solid 4: 25th Anniversary Edition which has trophy support and comes with a poster. Was it really 25 years ago that Metal Gear Solid 4 was released? It feels more like four.

You may be aware that the handheld versions of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed were delayed for fine tuning. The PS Vita version should be out this week. Retailers seem to be in the dark as to when the 3DS version will be emerge.

Finally, there’s Air Conflicts: Pacific Carriers on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and Outdoors Unleashed: Africa 3D on 3DS. For the two people wishing Activision would release a Cabela game on 3DS, the latter should fill that miserable void. If you’re curious about the former flight sim, then a demo is available on Xbox Live. It’s a full price release, so be sure to try before you buy.

Next week: Quite possibly nothing, so if there’s no new release round-up next week you’ll know why.

Matt is Games Asylum's most prolific writer, having produced a non-stop stream of articles for the site since 2001. A retro collector and bargain hunter, his knowledge has been found in the pages of tree-based publication Retro Gamer.